Hillary Clinton takes on the gender pay gap: 'There's no discount for being a woman'

Hillary Clinton spoke in New York City Tuesday morning as part of an event marking this year's Equal Pay Day.

The front-runner for the Democratic nomination participated in the Glassdoor Pay Equality Roundtable and took on America's gender wage gap by addressing what the country needs to do to close it. Equal Pay Day is held on the date each year that women's earnings catch up to men's previous year's income.

"It's important to make the point that the failure to ensure equal pay for women also impacts families and the broader economy," Clinton said during her opening remarks. "It devalues the work that women do."

Congress passed the Equal Pay Act in 1963, which attempted to abolish wage and workplace disparities between the sexes, however major differences in pay for men and women who perform the same jobs still exist.

U.S. Census data states that women nationwide earn 79 cents for every dollar earned by men. A study by Glassdoor yielded similar results, finding that men make an average of 24.1 percent more than women in the U.S. The study, which analyzed 505,000 salaries, found that the pay gap varies from industry to industry, but in most cases women are only earning 76 cents to every dollar a man makes.

RELATED: Hillary Clinton's potential running mates

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Hillary Clinton potential running mates, VPs

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Hillary Clinton takes on the gender pay gap: 'There's no discount for being a woman'

Tim Kaine

The junior Democratic Senator from the swing state of Virginia could be a strategic selection for Hillary. Kaine also served as the governor of Virginia from 2006- 2010.

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Elizabeth Warren

The current U.S. Senator from Massachusetts is popular among progressive Democrats, and some even tried to draft her to run for president herself in 2016.

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Sherrod Brown

Insiders believe that the senior U.S. Senator from Ohio could help Clinton increase her popularity with working-class voters, a group she has yet to win in a big way so far in primary contests.

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Cory Booker

The U.S. Senator from New Jersey is both youthful and charismatic and would add racial diversity to a Clinton ticket.

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Tom Perez

The current U.S. Secretary of Labor is considered a sleeper pick by many Democrats because he is not well known outside of D.C., but some believe his strength and popularity among union workers and other progressive groups could be an asset to Clinton's ticket.

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Bernie Sanders

The Independent from Vermont has become Hillary Clinton's primary rival for the Democratic nomination, garnering a surprising amount of support. Bringing Sanders onto the ticket could help to unite both sets of supporters who have been split in Democratic primaries.

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Martin O'Malley

A former 2016 rival of Hillary Clinton, and former Maryland governor, Martin O’Malley could help bring some executive experience, along with a slight youthful boost to the ticket.

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Tom Vilsack

The Secretary of Agriculture since 2009, Tom Vilsack also served as the governor of Iowa from 1999 to 2007. Vilsack could bring some governing experience along with swing state influence.

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Evan Bayh

Evan Bayh could bring a more right leaning brand of politics to the ticket. Bayh previously served as the junior U.S. Senator from Indiana from 1999 to 2011, and also as the 46th Governor of Indiana from 1989 to 1997.

Joe Biden

While the likelihood of him agreeing to take on the veep job again might be low, Biden's popularity among Democrats would likely boost Clinton's chances.

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Bill Clinton

Hillary's husband is technically allowed to serve in the job, and some legal experts even think he'd be able to take office if necessary. Unfortunately for the diehard Clinton supporters, a Clinton-Clinton ticket will probably be a dream that never comes true.

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The former secretary of state was joined on stage Tuesday by Glassdoor co-founder and CEO Robert Hohman, as well as Executive Director of The Clayman Institute for Gender Research at Stanford University Lori Nishiura Mackenzie, President of the Gap Foundation Dan Henkle, member of the U.S. Women's National Soccer Team Megan Rapinoe and Tracy Sturdivant, co-founder and co-executive director of Make It Work.

The roundtable, moderated by award-winning journalist Diane Brady, touched on several topics surrounding the gender pay gap, including why it exists and what we can do to close the gap.

Clinton addressed certain myths about equal pay, saying "there is still a lot of misinformation out there."

She called attention to not only the gender wage gap, but additional factors like race, education and location that also effect women's pay. Glassdoor research found that African-American women only earn only 64 cents, and Latinas just 56 cents, for every dollar white men earn.

"And the last time I checked, there's no discount for being a woman," Clinton said. "Groceries don't cost us less, rent doesn't cost us less, so why should we should we be paid less?"

As one of five members of the U.S. Women's National Team who recently filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission against U.S. Soccer Federation, Rapinoe said she and her teammates knew they weren't paid as much as the men's team, but they didn't know how drastic the numbers were until just recently.

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Hillary Clinton takes on the gender pay gap: 'There's no discount for being a woman'

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(Screenshot from YouTube)

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"We've known about the contracts of the men's soccer team for a long time. Transparency was the tipping point for us," the Olympic Gold Medalist said. "This year, after winning the World Cup and doing the victory tour, we were still grappling with the knowledge, but we didn't have the numbers. It was late February or early March when they released all these numbers, and we saw we were actually in the black by $17 million."

The midfielder added that the profit was made without the funds they needed as a team -- "so imagine with the investment."